Police: Information needed on suspect in ‘suspicious' Santa Rosa fires

Authorities still have no suspect in this weekend’s suspicious brush fires in west Santa Rosa, leaving residents worried the person might strike again.

Thirteen fires were set over a two-hour span Saturday night, starting in southwest Santa Rosa and continuing along the Santa Rosa Creek Trail. They likely were started by a person using a butane lighter and traveling on a bicycle, Santa Rosa Assistant Fire Marshal Ian Hardage said.

In a community trying to recover from the trauma from October’s wildfires, many residents were left feeling anxious after the weekend.

Ken Barber, 40, who lives along the railroad tracks by Hearn Avenue and Barham Avenue, said he’s lucky he was awake when the first set of small grass fires began Saturday night. He happened to glance at his security camera that night and noticed embers flying into his yard. Barber quickly grabbed a hose, which wasn’t quite long enough, but the pressure jet nozzle helped keep the fire from ?burning his property before firefighters arrived.

In daylight the next morning burned grass on the other side of his fence and a scorch mark on one of his fence boards remained. His camera didn’t catch an image of the arsonist.

“I hope to God they catch the guy,” Barber said.

Between midnight and 1 a.m. Saturday, Joyce Thornburg, 80, was sitting in a recliner in her living room when she heard a helicopter above her house in the Valle Vista III ?55-plus mobile home park, which butts up against the Santa Rosa Creek Trail just east of A Place to Play park. She didn’t step outside, but judging by the loud sound, she could tell it was low to the ground.

“You knew they were looking for someone,” Thornburg said.

The next day she learned about the small grass fires along the trail, and neighbors gathered to share their fears and anxieties over more possible fires.

“There’s a nut out there,” Thornburg said. “We’re all really worried.”

No descriptions of the suspect have been released, Santa Rosa Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal said.

Firefighters were first called to the railroad tracks by Hearn and Barham avenues at 11:39 p.m. Then ?25 minutes later, they were summoned near North Dutton Avenue and West Third Street along the Santa Rosa Creek Trail. The chain of fires continued two miles west along the trail from North Dutton to Fulton Road, the fire department said.

The largest of the 13 small fires that night burned about a quarter-acre of brush.

Concern over dry brush adjacent to her home was something Thornburg had discussed with neighbors for a while. Prompted by Saturday’s suspicious brush fires, Thornburg called the city Monday to report tall, dry weeds and grass at A Place to Play park and along the trail.

She estimates the grass is 2-3 feet high, and hoped it would be cut down before Fourth of July.

“Everything’s really dry,” said her neighbor, Sandy Copenhafer, 70. “If there’s a fire, our place would go up very quickly.”

Lowenthal said the park would be serviced with weed abatement treatment within the next week or two.

“Since the October wildfires, we’ve had a significant increase of complaints on weed abatement,” said Lowenthal, who also manages the city’s weed abatement program.

About 8,200 parcels in Santa Rosa have been surveyed since the end of May, and about 86 violated city rules for overgrown grass - a very low number compared to past years, Lowenthal said.

While the October wildfires were unfortunate, they served as a “wake-up call to a lot of people” to be compliant with weed abatement, Lowenthal said.

Firefighters are working overtime and additional staff has been brought on specifically to address weed abatement as a precaution for this fire season, Lowenthal said.

Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Marcus Sprague posted a video Monday on Facebook as he stood in the burned areas along the Santa Rosa Creek Trail at North Dutton Avenue and asked the public for help to identify the arsonist, and for witnesses to come forward.

A $2,500 reward will be given to anyone with information that leads to the arrest of the arsonist, Sprague said.

You can reach Staff Writer Susan Minichiello at 707-521-5216 or susan.minichiello@pressdemocrat.com.